Shoe hanger



y 29, 1958 H. w. WINDERWEEDLE, JR 2,845,185

SHOE HANGER Filed Oct. 5, 1954 Hall EAL 1M W/A/DfEWfEDLtQJe.

INVENTOR.

2,845,185 Patented July 29, 1958 ice SHOE HANGER Howell W. Winderweedle, J12, Jacksonville, Fla. Application October 5, 1954, Serial No. 460,301

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-114) I This invention relates to a device for storing shoes an orderly manner in a conventional clothes closet. The desirability of a device which will facilitate the orderly storage of shoes in a clothes closet is well appreciated, and many racks have been devised for this purpose. A substantial number of said racks is so designed as to cause the racks to seat directly upon the closet floor, but this arrangement has the disadvantage that the floor cannot be swept clean unless the racks are removed. Further, in other instances the racks are in the form of shoe bags or the like, hung upon a closet wall or door, but in this arrangement the construction results, many times, in an annoying noise when the door is being opened or closed. Further, when a shoe bag is hung upon a closet wall, it is often inconveniently disposed, in back of hanging garments and the like.

The main object of the present invention, accordingly, is to provide agenerally improved shoe support device for clothes closets which will be so designed as to permit the device to be hung upon the conventional clothes support bar of the closet, out of contact withthe floor surface, thereby to permit the floor surface to be cleaned with ease.

Another object of importance is to design the shoe hanger as to eliminate the need of hanging the same upon a door or the like, the shoe hanger being further designed to itself constitute a divider in the closet, whereby, for example, the garments of one person can be hung at one side of the divider and the garments of another person at the opposite side thereof.

Yet another object is to so design the shoe hanger as to permit the same to be collapsed into a fiat condition, for shipment or storage. This facilitates packing the device when one is preparing to travel. Further, the arrangement results in the device being packed into a small area when being shipped preliminary to sale thereof. This is particularly important to manufacturers, stores, and the like, and reduces the cost of manufacture and sale of the device.

Still another object is to provide a shoe hanger as stated which, by reason of its novel design, will be adapted to hold a particularly large quantity of shoes, as compared to the size to which the hanger can be collapsed, and the space which said hanger occupies within the closet.

Yet another object is to so design the shoe hanger as to facilitate measurably the insertion or removal of shoes, and the observation of said shoes when a pair of shoes is being selected for wear.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of Figure 1;

and

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of the device in its folded condition.

The shoe hanger 10 constituting the present invention is adapted to be suspended from a conventional clothes bar 12, to support a pluralityof pairsof shoes S. The hanger 10, in the illustrated example, affords eight compartments, each adapted to contain a single pair of shoes. However, as will be apparent from the description to be provided hereinafter, the number of compartments can be increased or decreased as desired, and further, the width of the compartments can be varied. Thus, in a commercial embodiment, each compartment may be expanded to twice its illustrated width, so as to double the shoe-carrying capacity thereof.

The hanger includes a plurality of vertically spaced shelves 14, lying in horizontal planes. The shelves 14 are all identical in thickness, material, dimensions, and outer configurations, thus simplifying the manufacture considerably. The shelves are formed of a rigid material, such as a flatlength of plywood, molded plastic, or the like, and connected fixedly to'the opposite longitudinal edges of the respective shelves are These can also be formed of a rigid material if desired. However, to facilitate the collapsing of the device for storage, shipment, etc., it is preferred that the side walls 16 be of a Wholly flexible material, such as a thin flexible plastic, fabric, or the like. In any event, each side wall is vertically elongated and is of rectangular outer configuration, each side wall being formed to a length equal to the total of the heights of the compartments defined between the several vertically spaced shelves 14.

The shelves 14 are fixedly secured at their opposite sides to the respective side walls, at uniformly spaced locationsalong the length of the side walls, and there is thus defined a foldable, vertically elongated assembly comprising a plurality of elongated rectangular compartments formed open at their opposite ends, but closed at their tops, bottoms, and sides. Each comparment is adapted to receive, in the illustrated embodiment, a pair of shoes S, arranged toe to heel in end-to-end relation as shown in Figure 3. Of course, the shelves 14 could be of double width, thus to permit the device to accommodate two pairs of shoes in each compartment, instead of one pair, the shoes of each pair being side by side or end to end, Whichever is desired.

In the upper ends of the side walls 16, medially between the opposite side edges of said walls, openings 18 are formed, said openings being aligned transversely of the hanger and being located immediately below the uppermost shelf 14. The openings can be reinforced by grommets or the like, if desired, and extending through the openings is a straight, elongated shank 20, which shank projects at its opposite ends beyond the opposite side walls a short distance. Integral with the projecting ends of the shank are extensions 22 normal to the length of the shank, said extensions lying in a common plane including the shank. On the free, upper ends of the extensions 22, clothes-bar-receiving hooks 24 are formed.

In this way, the device can be suspended from a conventional clothes bar, and when so suspended, will antomatically unfold to the operative position of the parts shown in Figure 1. This prepares the several compartments to receive shoes 14 arranged in the manner shown in Figures 2 and 3. It will be noted that the hanger extends from front to back of a closet, it being customary to dispose a clothes bar longitudinally of a closet medially between the front and back walls thereof. When so disposed, the device 10 constitutes a divider in the closet, so that one persons clothes can be hung at one side of the device, and another persons clothes at the opposite side. Further, the lower end of the device will side Walls 16.

3 be Supported above the floor, thus to permit the floor to be readily cleaned.

The article can be folded to form a compact object shown in Figure 4, the portions of the side walls between each pair of adjacent plates 14 folding inwardly. The device, when so collapsed, is no greater in height than the combined thicknesses of the side wall folds and plates, and furthermore, the suspending means 20, 22, 24 may swing downwardly about the axis of shank 20 to lie along the opposite sides of the device. The article is now prepared for packing, shipment, or stocking on the shelves of a retail establishment.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A collapsible rack for shoes and like articles comprising: a plurality of flat, elongated, rectangular shelves each of which is formed as a rigid, imperforate plate member, said shelves lying in spaced horizontal planes and being aligned in a vertical direction to define a series'of similarly aligned, article-receiving compartments; a pair of flexible side walls extending the full length of said series, said side Walls being of a width substantially equal to the length of the shelves andbeing respectively connected to the opposite longitudinal edges of the several shelves to close said compartments at opposite sides thereof while leaving the compartments open at the ends of the shelves, said side walls folding inwardly within the compartments for collapsing of the rack in said vertical direction; and means for suspending the rack from an overhead support comprising a shank straight from end to end thereof, said shank extending transversely of the shelves, the side walls having openings immediately below the uppermost shelf, the shank rotatably engaging adjacent its ends in said openings of the respective side walls with the shank underlying the uppermost shelf over the full distance between the openings, the ends of the shank projecting beyond the re spective side walls, radial extensions on the ends of the shank lying in a common plane including the shank, and suspension hooks formed on the outer ends of the extensions for engaging an overhead support, said extensions swinging, on rotation of the shank, about the axis of the shank in planes spaced outwardly from the side Walls, said hooks and extensions projecting above the upper ends of the side walls in one position to which the extensions are swung, and extending downwardly from the shank when the extensions are swung 180 from said positions so as to be disposable wholly below the plane of the uppermost shelf in the collapsed condition of the rack, said shank being supported against downward movement from said uppermost shelf wholly by the side walls and being engaged against upward movement by said uppermost shelf, the underside of the uppermost shelf being spaced vertically from the axis of the shank a distance not less than the maximum dimensions of the shank measured at any.location along its length in a direction radially from said axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,225,607 Ford et a1. May 8, 1917 1,847,066 Berg Mar. 1, 1932 1,955,668 Botz Apr. 17, 1934 2,292,270 Hara Aug. 4, 1942. 2,639,819 Marks May 26, 1953 2,645,541 Mintz et a1. July 14, 1953 

